Reddit, how can one person combat climate change and help the environment?

It's important that we act on preserving the earth for the generations to come in whatever ways we can, and I think a lot of people don't understand how they can make a difference. Most people are resigned to "I'm just one person," or feel-good solutions like planting a tree in their yard, that don't make that much of a difference (trees absorb carbon only to release it again when they die).

I'd like suggestions on how to help various aspects of our earth (climate, deforestation, waste disposal, pollution, etc) with things like links to organizations to join or donate to, or ways to locally promote interest in the environment, or at least get active and contribute. I'll edit this post to compile useful information for others to find easily.

I've been generally disappointed with the response here. Personally, I'm a graphic designer, artist, and animator. I'm sure that all those skills can be put to effect, whether it's branding for an environmental group or some sort of pro-enviro multimedia piece, to help make a difference.

See, you have a direction already. I'm sure lots of organizations in your area would appreciate any help you can give them. Find one that fits your cause of choice, and keep us posted on what you've done!

You have to build a consciousness of the environment before you do anything else. If you haven't before, take a trip to a developing nation. See how food, water, energy, and other resources are scarce. But also notice the ingenuity of people adapting to the scarcity. I've seen someone wash the dishes of a twelve person meal with a tablespoon of powdered soap and a few cups of water. Also notice how it negatively affects communities. Talk to people, lots of people, from different segments of local society.

Then, begin to think about how your lifestyle is connected to theirs. Think about how you consume resources. Don't let your mind slip into unconsciousness. Notice every step you take, every bite you eat, every word you speak. Think about how you can do small things in your life more efficiently. This is not going to create an instant Earth changing force. It is only a beginning of a long process.

A mentor of mind hates the term "Live simply so that others may simply live." Everyone deserves more than just the basic scraping-by of just living. She says "Live simply so that we all can live simply."

How cute. You can't. Asia alone eclipses the rest of the planet and add to that rapid development and countries like Brazil and many others trying to step up and there is NOTHING you can do to offset or help.

In fact, there is nothing that anyone can do, the Earth has been around a long time before us and will continue long after we are gone. It may become uninhabitable for humans but it will change and evolve and new life will thrive. It's happened before, it will happen again. To think us as humans are so powerful and in such control is folly.

I say this as an avid outdoorsman. The best I can do is not be a consumer (which so many of these "green" types are), the solution is not buying more or different shit, the solution is to stop buying shit. But that is actually hard, so we'd rather buy bamboo or corn-based disposable plates and feel better. Bullshit.

The earth has 1 billion years left before the sun expands enough to evaporate the water from the oceans. Your problem is that you're thinking on the wrong scale. If you think that the minute existence of the human race when compared to the age of the planet makes our efforts to preserve life irrelevant, then you should also say that waking up in the morning, or eating, or posting on reddit is "folly," and thus you might as well not. This is not about preventing the earth from becoming uninhabitable, it's about postponing the uninhabitability of the earth so that we can continue to thrive and not leave a hellish world for the people of the future.

There is plenty we can do to help the world, despite the scale of the problem. Promoting legislation, for example, causes significant change. Helping organizations that perform scientific research, or that work to rebuild rain-forests creates tangible, measurable change. Certainly, we can't bail out the plastic soup of the Pacific Ocean. But we must be able to believe in and act on progress, rather than calling bullshit on people who care about the planet we inhabit.